Numbers Are Persuasive—If Used in Moderation

The facts of climate change are widely reported. NASA notes, for example, that with a two-degree-Celsius increase in global temperatures, as compared with a 1.5-degree-C increase, about 61 million more people living in urban areas around the world will be exposed to severe drought. In addition, the U.S. alone could lose 2.3 percent of its gross domestic product for each degree-C increase in global warming.

The problem with communicating these numbers, however, is that many people balk when confronting them. Math anxiety—the experience of tension, fear or apprehension when confronting mathematical problems—and innumeracy—the inability to understand and employ numerical concepts—are both quite common. (For the numerically curious: about a third of working-age Americans struggle with simple numeric processes.)

Read the whole story (subscription may be required): Scientific American